Day 17 - Los Angeles

Actually, to be honest I've been really surprised with LA. Kevin said the other night that you can come here and get a different impression of it every time, and that seems strikingly true. I'd been here with my parents way back almost ten years ago, so I didn't remember but so much and of course it was from a completely tourist point of view. I understand it a lot better now I think and even though it's not my very favorite city in the world, its pretty great and I've had a really good time.

So to start off with today, I woke up fairly early because Kevin was up at 8am to get his oil changed. For someone who seemed so tired the night before he was about as chipper as could be, somewhat of a surprise I'd say. As I showered he made eggs, the first real non-hotel breakfast I'd had since....well....months anyway. He had a doctor's appointment until the late afternoon so I headed out for Venice Beach. It was a little cloudy, but not too bad and being a Saturday it was totally packed. VB is definitely an experience, it seems that pretty much every level of society goes there from your botoxed, chihuahua carrying, Vuitton wearing, facelifted one time trophy wives to your garden variety screaming homeless crazyperson. All along the street were t-shirt vendors and hotdog stands, with street performers playing across from them. Some of these guys were amazingly good and a semi-free show can't be beat. I ended up spending about 45 minutes watching these guys do this amazing (and funny) breakdance routine right on the concrete. This one guy even slid forward on his head...ouch...seemed like magic. After walking around for a bit, I got some lunch at Elvira's Carribbean Shack, which is about what it sounds but those Jerk chicken enchiladas were amazing. I actually kept walking all the way to the famous Santa Monica pier and went around their amusement park for a bit.

By the time I was almost back to the car, Kevin called and told me that he was with some co-workers to buy a suit at the Beverly Center and to meet him there so we could go from there. Thanks to the GPS, I made a quick journey of it and met him. He was still in the middle of getting suited up (apparently its a tradition for the boss to buy the younger folks one) and so I decided to walk around the mall and he'd just call me when he was done.

So the Beverly Center is like a mall version of Rodeo drive. Not that all of the stores are that pricey, but there are ones like Dior, Gucci etc. I tell you what, I love people watching with the ipod headphones on. They just assume you can't hear anything and so you can go incognito. I actually stood about five feet from a woman (probably about 55 but with so much plastic surgery it was impossible to tell, think joan rivers type of stretched face...::shivers::) who actually bought a $3000 purse. Yes, three zeros. Thats more than both of my first cars, I seriously was in shock...i mean, it wasn't even a big purse. I wanted to smack her and say something akin to 'you know that you can buy the same one in Chinatown for $20 right?' Honestly too, with her looks...I don't think a cheap purse will fix the problem. I'm sure it was obvious to the salespeople that I wasn't going to buy anything but again the ipod makes it a little less awkward since they have an excuse to not talk to me.

After walking around for about 1.5 hrs I was really starting to worry about Kevin...and then I got a call from a weird number I'd never seen before. It was him and apparently his phone got jacked. He'd had to call a couple of mutual friends to figure out how to get me. From experience, It sucks...you're contact list is the worst part of losing the phone. Who remembers actual numbers anymore?? After getting everything shut off, we headed back to his place to meet a couple of friends for dinner.

This restaurant was amazing, Argentinian food. Basically that translates into meat meat and more meat. The three of us split on entree and a 'dinner for two'. How two people could eat this thing, I'll never know. Two steaks, a half chicken, salad, sweetbreads (which is a weird name for grilled cow neckpieces) and three sausages. The total bill with drinks was only about $55 which astonished me. The only other expense was the $3 valet. I had to laugh though...I'm sure a lot of you have seen 'clueless.' At one point, the main character is getting yelled at by her father for not knowing how to parallel park and she says "But Daddy, honestly, everywhere you go had valet!" Sounds like a joke right? WRONG! Everybody drives here and most places really do have valet, even malls. Cultural difference I guess.

After dinner, we all headed out to a nightclub called the Abbey. It was a great time, really neat place. It looked like an old Spanish mission with vaulted ceilings and rough walls. Most of it was actually open to the outside so it wasn't anywhere near as claustrophobic as they can sometimes be. We weren't out too lat but had a blast all the same.

Tomorrow, Sunday, I'll be doing a couple more touristy things here in LA before finally heading to VEGAS!